Promises We Treasure
by colferdreaam
Summary: After the inevitable break up of Kurt and Blaine, the two boys continue their journey through junior year and college as friends. Will they be able to maintain their friendship? Or will every promise they've ever promised break? *Sequel to 'Everything Will Fall To Pieces' & 'Not The Same Without You' I'd advise reading those stories before this one.
1. September

The transition back to Dalton was uneasy for Kurt, due to his nightmares. He was still hiding it from Nick, which he knew was potentially a stupid idea but he couldn't help it. It wasn't that he didn't trust Nick, he did, he just wasn't comfortable with anyone other than Blaine and his dad knowing about it – at that particular moment in time anyway.

He was still on strangely good terms with Blaine; the nineteen year old being a huge comfort for Kurt whenever he had a nightmare. He was sort of surprised at how okay Blaine was with talking Kurt to sleep at ridiculous times in the morning, even if he had college the next day. Despite how confused Kurt was at Blaine's willingness, he was more than thankful that he had Blaine or he'd probably be an even bigger mess than he already was.

The nightmares were getting slightly better for Kurt. He was having them less and less as time progressed, but he was still having enough to completely alter his usually happy personality. He'd been questioned a million times by Nick, Jeff and the rest of the Warblers as to why he didn't seem himself lately, and it was becoming harder and harder to come up with good reasons without telling them everything.

"Kurt," Nick said, shaking the sixteen year old as he started to fall asleep on his friend's shoulder.

"Huh- what-" Kurt mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"You almost fell asleep on me for the twentieth time," Nick laughed. "And while I'm sure I'm a fabulous pillow, your bed is literally two meters away."

"But- but…studying…"

"Kurt, you don't need to study any more. You didn't even need to study to begin with, you knew everything we need to know for the test. Now go to bed, you're so tired you can't even form a real sentence."

"M'fine," Kurt muttered in reply, leaning his head against Nick's shoulder again.

"I'm about two seconds away from carrying you over there. Please go to bed. Trust me, you need it." Nick said, nudging Kurt in the side to get him to wake up a little bit.

"Fine," Kurt said as he stretched and yawned before getting off of Nick's bed and making his way to his own bed. "Night." He said into the pillow before all but jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom, leaving Nick to stare after him confusedly.

Once Kurt had taken his medicine, he awkwardly made his way back into the bedroom and climbed into his bed again. He prayed that he wouldn't have a nightmare as he knew Nick was going to be awake for quite a while studying. Nonetheless, Kurt closed his eyes and eventually drifted to sleep.

Kurt awoke with a start, sitting up in his bed breathless with tears streaming down his face. As always, sobbing ensued seconds later as he struggled to breathe.

"Kurt?" Nick asked when he heard Kurt sit up in bed, immediately rushing to the crying sixteen year old. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked. The only reply he got was Kurt crying harder as he curled himself into a little ball. "Please talk to me, you're scaring me."

So Kurt got out the only word that he could, "B-Bl-Blaine."

Nick swallowed around the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat and called Blaine, wondering if he would even answer at two in the morning. Surprisingly, Blaine picked up straight away.

"Nick?" Blaine croaked, sounding like he'd just woken up.

"I think Kurt had a nightmare," Nick began, cutting right to the chase. "He's shaking and crying and he's really scaring me. He said your name though so I just assumed I should call you."

"Give him the phone, please."

"But-"

"Just give him the phone, Nick!" Blaine exclaimed.

Hesitantly, Nick handed the phone to Kurt, who clutched it to his ear and began sobbing harder. "B-Blaine." Kurt cried, gripping the phone harder.

Nick couldn't hear what Blaine was saying but he could see that Kurt began visibly relaxing at whatever it was. He was unsure why, but Nick's heart panged in his chest at the prospect of Blaine being able to help Kurt but him being unable to help at all.

Slowly, Kurt's breathing returned to normal and his sobbing stopped. Kurt shakily handed the phone over to Nick, who noticed that he was still in a call to Blaine so he put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Nick said confusedly.

"Hey, um I was just wondering if it's okay if Kurt keeps your phone with him? I usually like, talk him to sleep whenever he has a nightmare but I didn't just wanna do it without your permission…"

"Uh yeah, that's fine."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about snapping at you before."

"It's fine, I know you were just worried about him." Nick replied, instinctively reaching out to comb his fingers through Kurt's hair, smiling slightly when the still shaking boy leaned into his hand.

"Yeah well, I still shouldn't have snapped so I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Nick laughed. "Okay, I'm gonna give you back to Kurt now."

Nick reluctantly went back to his bed after giving the phone to Kurt, still incredibly worried about his friend. He was, however, glad that Blaine had managed to calm him down. One thing that did confuse him was that Blaine had told him that _whenever _Kurt had a nightmare he would talk him to sleep, and Kurt didn't have nightmares that frequently…did he?

The next morning, Kurt was still fast asleep so Nick began silently getting ready for school. Eventually, it got a little too late and Nick knew that Kurt would be late for class if he didn't wake him up so he knelt on the floor beside his bed and gently shook his arm, being careful not to startle him after last night.

Kurt slowly woke up, his eyes blinking open to look at Nick with sleepy, bright blue eyes.

"Hey," Nick smiled. "Class starts in about an hour, I knew if I didn't wake you up soon then you'd be late."

"Okay," Kurt replied as Nick got off the floor and made to walk away, only to be stopped by Kurt's hand in his, pulling him back. "Thank you, for last night."

"It's fine," Nick shrugged.

"I wanna talk to you about it," Kurt replied, biting his lip in a sort of…adorable way. "And I feel like if I don't do it now then I'm never gonna get it out."

"Okay…" Nick said, sitting on the edge of Kurt's bed.

"Okay so…When I was little, after my mum died, I started getting these really bad nightmares every night. They went away after a while but they started coming back around a month ago so my dad took me to the doctors and now I have medicine that I have to take every night before bed – that's why I randomly jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom last night – and they're starting to go away but I still have them sometimes."

"Hey," Nick said softly, running his thumb over Kurt's hand where he was still holding it as his friend slowly raised his gaze from the bed cover. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, I was just scared to tell anyone about it."

"Come here, you big dummy," Nick replied, opening his arms out and enveloping Kurt in a hug as he tried to ignore the random fluttering in his stomach. "I won't tell anyone, I promise. And I'm not judging you, it's not your fault you have to deal with this. Losing your mum at eight is…I can't even imagine what that must've felt like, it's actually understandable."

"Thank you." Kurt whispered into Nick's shoulder.

"I have an idea…" Nick said, pulling back with a smirk.

"Nick…"

"Go get dressed, but ditch the uniform."

"What-"

"Go!" Nick laughed. "And don't come out until I tell you it's safe, I need to get changed."

"I don't trust you but fine…" Kurt replied, grabbing some clothes and making his way into the bathroom to get changed.

When both boys were changed into regular, every day clothes, Nick grabbed Kurt's hand and dragged him out of their dorm room. Once they had successfully snuck out – Kurt had no idea how they managed that – Nick led Kurt to…actually Kurt had no idea where. They were surrounded by nothing but grass.

"Um…I feel like you brought me out here to murder me but I'd like to think I know you well enough to know that's not what you're planning on doing."

"I didn't bring you here to murder you," Nick laughed. "I just thought you could do with a day of not going to school and this was kind of the first place that popped into my head."

"Well, seeing as you're not going to kill me…" Kurt teased, sitting on the floor next to a laughing Nick and picking at the grass. "This reminds me of a date I had with Blaine, except it was a different part and we were in _much _different positions than this."

"Ew, okay, I do not need to hear about that thank you," Nick replied, throwing grass at Kurt's face and trying to stop his heart from frantically pounding against his chest.

"I can't believe you made me skip school though."

"Oh like you've never skipped school before."

"I haven't!" Kurt defended. "I did once, but it was with good reason."

"And what was that reason?" Nick asked teasingly with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, let's see…I was cornered in the bathroom and pinned against the wall where I got punched in the face and the stomach, resulting in a ridiculously long nose bleed. Blaine found me and I was really shaken up so he took me to this tiny park near my old school and we sat on the swings for a while." Kurt explained, looking at Nick through squinted eyes due to the sun that decided to appear out of nowhere.

"Oh…I-"

"Nick Duval, don't you dare tell me you're sorry," Kurt teased. "I'm fine, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Nope."

"But I-"

"Nope."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Nick exclaimed with a laugh.

"I don't care, I'm not gonna let you make this day sad."

"Fine, let's talk about something happy then," Nick suggested.

"Like what?" Kurt laughed.

"I don't know, what's happy? Um…rainbows…puppies,"

"I'm not having a conversation with you about rainbows or puppies." Kurt laughed, swatting Nick playfully in the arm.

"Well, I could just…you know…chase you around the field," Nick wondered mischievously.

"You could _what_!?"

"You have a five second head start,"

"Nick –"

"Five,"

"What're you –"

"Four,"

"I swear to god –"

"Three,"

"I am not –"

"Two,"

"Don't you dare –"

"ONE!" Nick exclaimed, jumping to his feet and chasing after a screaming Kurt.

"Nick!" Kurt screeched as Nick continued to chase the chestnut haired teen.

"You're faster than you look!" Nick shouted breathlessly.

"I feel like I should be insulted!"

"Shut up!" Nick laughed, running a little faster as Kurt let out a little yelp and tried to get further away from his friend.

Eventually, Nick caught up with Kurt and tackled him onto the ground, leaving them a pile of laughing teenage boy on the floor. Nick moved slightly and suddenly he was staring directly into Kurt's eyes below him, the other boy still laughing despite Nick's serious expression.

"Kurt, I –" Nick was cut off by the sound of Kurt's phone ringing in his pocket. He awkwardly pulled it out seeing as Nick apparently didn't want to move, and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Kurt!" Jeff all but shouted down the phone. "Where are you? Have you seen Nick?"

"Jeff wants to know if I've seen his boyfriend…" Kurt said, handing the phone to Nick.

"Jeff?" Nick said, climbing off of Kurt and suddenly feeling extremely guilty.

"Where the hell are you!?" Jeff exclaimed. "You didn't show up to class so I went to your dorm and neither you or Kurt were there, do you have any idea how worried I was about you!?"

"Woah, hey, calm down. I'm fine."

"You could have told me you weren't going to be in school at all! Where even were you?"

"I'm with Kurt, I'll explain later. But I'm fine, I promise. I'm sorry if I scared you."

"I really wish you were here right now so that I could slap you." Jeff sighed, eliciting a laugh from Nick.

"You couldn't slap me even if you wanted to," Nick pointed out. "You couldn't hurt a fly."

"True…"

"I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay…I love you."

Nick swallowed around the lump in his throat before letting out a little, "I love you too."

Once the call was over, Nick handed the phone back to a now sitting Kurt and let himself fall backwards against the grass with a groan.

"Is he mad at you?" Kurt asked, fiddling with his phone in his hands.

"Yup…I think I scared him because he couldn't find me," Nick explained before groaning again and covering his face with his hands. "I'm a horrible boyfriend."

"No you're not." Kurt argued.

"Yes I am."

"Why are you a horrible boyfriend?" Kurt asked.

"Because I –" Nick began, his heart pounding in his chest, only to be cut off again by the noise of Kurt's phone "Seriously? He laughed. "How many phone calls do you generally get when you're in school?"

Kurt shrugged. "Not my fault I'm popular," He teased. "I'm kidding, it's Blaine…Hey!"

"Hey," Blaine laughed. "Someone's cheery."

"Is that a problem?"

"Nope, it actually kind of answers my question anyway."

"Let me guess, 'how are you? You scared me last night'?" Kurt guessed.

"Well…I wasn't going to phrase it _exactly_ like that but yeah…"

"I'm fine," Kurt laughed. "Nick made me skip school then chased me around a field, how could I not be fine after _that_?" He asked, looking directly at the other sixteen year old who poked his tongue out at Kurt in reply.

"Well, I'm just glad you're okay," Blaine laughed.

"Thank you."

"Okay, I've gotta go, I have class starting soon so I'll speak to you later."

"Okie dokie," Kurt replied, ending the call.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot,"

"Why do you and Blaine never say bye to each other?"

"It's sort of…" Kurt began, taking a deep breath. "When he left for New York, I was a sobbing mess and he went to say goodbye but I didn't think I could handle it so I told him not to and when I broke up with him I nearly said goodbye to him and he stopped me so yeah…I think we're both kind of just scared to say it in a way, like it could just break everything or something."

"Oh," Was all Nick could manage and _oh_, that lump in his throat was back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Nick said with a smile, squinting in the sun.

The two boys made their way back to school just after school ended as that was the time that people were coming in and out, which made it a lot easier to sneak back in. Once they were back, Nick made his way to Jeff's dorm to apologise again while Kurt called Blaine.

Later on in the evening, Kurt, Jeff and Nick went out to eat – it was Nick's way of apologising to Jeff, who insisted that Kurt came as he'd be by himself if he didn't. Their dinner was…well, a disaster. It was for Nick anyway, who realised half way through their meal that he'd been staring at Kurt pretty much the whole time instead of his boyfriend.

He sort of felt like he was going crazy when he realised that he'd spent all of his time listening intently to Kurt's adorable, high pitched laugh instead of the actual conversation that was happening around him. He didn't even understand how he hadn't noticed that he'd been trying to figure out what shade of blue Kurt's eyes were instead of contributing more in their conversation.

One thing that did add up, however, was why Nick had been getting a fluttery stomach all day. He…_oh_, he had a crush on Kurt.

"Um, I'll be back in a minute." Nick announced, letting go of Jeff's hand and making his way into the bathroom where he proceeded to splash water on his face.

_**You're being stupid**_, Nick thought to himself, _**you don't like Kurt, not in that way. You love Jeff…but Kurt does have really pretty eyes and – no. Stop, stop, stop! Stop thinking about Kurt, you're with Jeff and you love Jeff…Jeff, Jeff, Jeff…but it's not your fault if you have feelings for Kurt…**_"ARGH!" Nick exclaimed, running his finger through his hair frustratedly.

"Nick?" Kurt said, opening the door to the boys' bathroom and stepping inside to find Nick pacing the small space. "Um…are you okay?"

"I love Jeff!" Nick shouted as he spun around to face Kurt.

"Uh…yeah…I know that…"

"Sorry," Nick breathed. "That wasn't actually supposed to come out of my mouth."

"It's fine," Kurt laughed. "Seriously though, are you okay? We're both worried about you."

"Yeah," Nick replied, trying not to overthink the fact that Kurt was worried about him. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Then can we please go back to the table? I left your boyfriend by himself and I'm pretty sure he thinks you drowned or something even though I don't know how that would happen…"

Nick knew that Kurt was still talking but he didn't hear any actual words being formed as he glared into Kurt's eyes, trying to keep his breathing under control.

"-ick? Nick!" Kurt exclaimed, snapping his fingers in front his friends face.

"What?"

"You're actually going crazy," Kurt laughed. "Come on, let's go."

That night, Nick tossed and turned in his bed, feeling guilty for liking someone else when he had boyfriend and being completely confused about why he even liked Kurt _like that_. It wasn't that he wasn't attractive, because he clearly _was_. He was also extremely funny and absolutely adorable and – _**shut up Nick!**_

Nick was brought out of his thoughts by a loud scream coming from the bed on the other side of his and Kurt's small dorm room. He immediately got up and rushed over to Kurt's bed, instinctively wrapping his arms around the other teen. Much to Nick's surprise, Kurt turned around in his embrace and buried his face in Nick's chest, clawing at his shirt as he searched for comfort in the only thing he had.

"Do you want me to call Blaine?" Nick asked softly, receiving a shake from Kurt's head.

"Puh-please don't l-leave me." Kurt cried, allowing Nick to hug him tighter and stroke his arm soothingly.

"Shh, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." Nick whispered, resting his chin on the top of Kurt's head.

When Nick awoke the next morning, he confusedly realised that he wasn't in his own bed. He tried to get up when he realised there was something clinging to his side, and suddenly the previous night came flooding back to him.

He tried to get up a few more times but when Nick figured out that Kurt wasn't going to budge, he gave up and let the sixteen year old snuggle up to him. He looked down at his friend and smiled softly.

Kurt was lying with his head smooshed between Nick's chest and arm, his hand gripping onto his friend's shirt. He was making little snuffling noises and every now and then he would snuggle further into the comfort of his best friend.

At the adorable sight of Kurt asleep, Nick gave up on trying to ignore his feelings. It wasn't like he was shouting from the rooftops how he felt about Kurt, he was just…admiring him…from a distance. There was no harm in that right? That way he wouldn't hurt Jeff and he wouldn't have to try and squash what he was feeling.

When Kurt woke up and blinked up at Nick with sleepy blue eyes, he realised that yeah…there was no way he was going to be able to ignore his feelings for Kurt.


	2. October

When October rolled back around, Kurt decided that it would be a sensible idea to go home for Halloween instead of staying in school as, well, it didn't exactly end well last year.

Nick seemed adamant on Kurt staying at Dalton, however, and promised he wouldn't watch any scary movies or play any pranks on Kurt. The chestnut haired teen was sceptical of staying, though. He trusted Nick, of course he did, it was the rest of the student body he didn't trust. He knew that people would be jumping out of random places and playing practical jokes and Kurt didn't really feel like putting up with that. Although his nightmares were beginning to disintegrate little by little, Kurt was still exhausted from late night study sessions and a lot of insomnia.

"Please," Nick pleaded the night before Halloween. "Just stay. I promise we won't watch any horror movies and I'll be your body guard for the entire day to ensure that nobody does anything to you."

"Nick," Kurt groaned. "You're making me feel guilty for wanting to go home." He said, falling back against the pillows on Nick's bed and staring up at his best friend who was grinning at him like the Cheshire cat.

"That's the whole point, dummy. Look, Jeff is going to his cousin's house for the weekend and my parents are out of town, you don't want to leave me here to watch Disney movies by myself all weekend, do you?" Nick asked with a pout.

"Stop that," Kurt whined, covering his eyes with his arm until Nick pried it away from his face, only to look down at his friend with an even bigger pout and puppy eyes, batting his eyelashes innocently. "Nick! You're so – ugh, fine!"

"Yay!" Nick exclaimed, laying his body across Kurt's in a hug.

"Nick, get off me!" Kurt laughed as Nick sat up next to Kurt and grinned like an excited five year old. "Just a warning, the second someone jumps out at me, I'm ditching you."

"Agreed."

And that's how Kurt found himself building a blanket fort with Nick between their beds. Nick had randomly announced that they should "_totally build a blanket fort_" while they ate their lunch and Kurt, strangely enough, readily agreed. Both boys were a mess of giggles as they repeatedly tripped over blankets and pillows as they tried to figure out how exactly they could get the fort to actually _stay up_. Being at a boarding school, the two boys had a limited amount of resources to help them build their fort so they went through a lot of struggling before they finally built a tent that didn't collapse five seconds after it was made.

Kurt would be lying if he said he wasn't even a little bit happy that Nick had convinced him to stay. If he went home, all he would've done is…well, probably watch TV or sleep. At least if he was at Dalton he'd have Nick to keep him company and he'd do something slightly productive.

When Nick came into their dorm room with his arms full of Disney DVD's, Kurt burst out laughing, apparently unable to refrain himself.

"I'm sorry I just…wow, Nick. You're worse than me and Blaine put together and that's really saying something." Kurt laughed, covering his mouth with his hand adorably as the corners of his eyes crinkled.

Nick actually forgot to reply for a few seconds, distracted by the adorable expression on Kurt's face – _how the hell was he going to make it through the __**whole**__ weekend?_

"Disney is the best, don't even try to deny it." Nick countered when he remembered to reply.

"Touché my friend, touché." Kurt said, taking some of the many DVD's from Nick's arms and putting them in the blanket fort. "Though I do wonder how exactly you're planning to get through all of these DVD's…"

"Caffeine, young one," Nick teased. "It's magical."

"You're such an idiot." Kurt laughed, pushing Nick lightly.

"Why thank you kind sir," Nick said in a British accent, bowing slightly and making Kurt laugh even harder.

"Okay, stop," Kurt said through his laughter. "I get it."

"Good. Now let's get this party started!" Nick exclaimed, receiving another light push from Kurt.

The two boys ended up watching movies the whole of Friday night and Nick realised as he and Kurt laid together in the small space of their tent fort that _yeah, he was never going to survive the weekend._

Kurt had fallen asleep with his head on Nick's shoulder and he was gripping onto the sleeve of Nick's long sleeved top while he let out adorable little breaths. Nick wanted to wake him up _just _so that his heart would stop thumping so hard in his chest but he looked down and saw how adorable Kurt looked and, _oh well it's not like he can even feel my heart pounding, he's asleep._

The next morning, Kurt and Nick both awoke at the same time to find themselves completely wrapped up in each other. Kurt had snuggled even closer to his friend, which resulted in his head resting on Nick's chest and Nick, in his unconscious state, had ended up wrapping his arms around the chestnut haired teen so that he was ultimately hugging him.

"Well…" Kurt said awkwardly, not moving. "This is awkward."

"Yeah," Nick squeaked out awkwardly, hoping Kurt couldn't hear his heart thumping against his chest.

"How did we even end up like this?"

"No idea…"

"I should probably stop hugging you now –"

"Yeah…" Nick said at the same time.

Kurt awkwardly detangled himself from Nick as both boys sat up and looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments before talking at the same time.

"We should –"

"Sorry –"

"You first," Nick laughed awkwardly.

"I was just gonna say we should go get breakfast…"

"Breakfast – yeah, we should go get breakfast."

"Okay, let's go." Kurt said, crawling out of the blanket fort with Nick following behind, neither of them noticing or caring that they were still wearing pyjamas.

Most of the warblers actually stayed at school for the weekend, so Nick and Kurt decided to sit with them. Although there was conversation surrounding them, the two boys were mostly silent, occasionally looking up from their food only to accidentally make eye contact with each other, blush and look back down at their plates.

Kurt had no idea why it was so awkward between them, all that happened was they woke up cuddled up to each other. It wasn't that strange; Nick had held Kurt until he fell asleep several times when he'd had a nightmare and they'd laid or sat extremely close when they'd watched movies together before so why had it only just become awkward? It wasn't awkward for Kurt to wake up with his head on Blaine's chest, or even fall asleep that way, and they were broken up, so why was it so awkward for him to wake up cuddled up to his best friend, even when they'd been in that position many times?

Kurt decided that he'd speak to Nick about it later on in the day, but for now he was just going to continue eating his breakfast.

"Kurt, can I talk to you?" Wes, one of the Warblers, asked suddenly. Okay, maybe he _wasn't _going to continue eating his breakfast.

"Mhm." Kurt hummed, reluctantly getting out of his seat and following Wes into the choir room. "What's up?"

"What's going on with you and Nick? Things seem really…awkward. You haven't said a word to each other all day, well not since you came to breakfast and things just seem really tense between you guys."

"I honestly have no idea. We woke up this morning kind of like…cuddled up...A lot? But it's not that weird, it's not like we've never shared a bed before and oh my god that sounded really creepy…"

"Back on point…" Wes prompted.

"Right, yeah. It's not like it was him making it awkward or it was just me making it awkward though, we both felt it and now we seem to be tip-toeing around each other as if we committed a crime or something."

"There's something up with him…" Wes pointed out. "He's been acting really weird for a while now."

"He seems fine to me?"

"Nope, there's definitely something wrong. I've known Nick for years and although we've never been as close as you guys are now, we've always been friends."

"I can talk to him later? If he actually like, you know, speaks to me any time today."

"I don't know if he'll tell you anything, but sure." Wes agreed.

"Okay, well I need to go. I told Blaine that I was staying at school this weekend and now he wants daily reports."

"What?"

"Long story, don't ask," Kurt laughed. "Bye Wes."

Once Kurt had texted Blaine letting him know that he was okay, he sat on his bed and all but stared at the door until Nick returned.

"Hi…um, you kind of look possessed right now…"

"Sorry," Kurt laughed. "I was waiting for you to come back and I think I kind of tuned out."

"Okay…"

"I need to talk to you."

"Uh-oh," Nick teased, sitting opposite Kurt. "What's up?"

"What up with _you_? You've been acting kind of weird lately – Wes' words, not mine – and I'll admit I didn't really notice at first but today has been so awkward and it's only just eleven, in the morning and now I've kind of realised that you _have _been acting strange. Is everything okay with you and Jeff or?"

"Everything's fine between me and Jeff. Did you not see us physically not wanting to stop hugging each other yesterday when he had to leave?"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean that you haven't argued or –"

"We haven't argued, Kurt. I'm fine."

"Not you're not," Kurt whined. "Why won't you just talk to me? I always talk to you when something's bothering me but now that something's bothering _you, _you won't talk to me and I kind of feel like you don't trust me as much as I trust you but it's not like I'd tell anyone or anything and –" Kurt was cut off by a pair of unfamiliar lips being pressed to his own, but they were gone as soon as they came.

"That's what's bothering me, okay? Now do you see why I wouldn't talk to you about it?"

"You…you…" All Kurt could do was stare at Nick in shock, not knowing what to say after being kissed by his best friend. "You kissed me." He whispered.

"Kurt…I…" Nick wasn't even sure what he wanted to say.

"I need to go…" Kurt said, grabbing his phone and making his way to the door.

"Wait, can we please just talk?"

"Nick, I –"

"Please?" Nick pleaded.

"I promise we'll talk later, I just need to…think. Okay?"

"Okay." Nick agreed, quietly and reluctantly.

As soon as Kurt left the room, he pretty much ran to Wes' dorm, hoping that he hadn't gone out anywhere. Kurt knocked on the door and, much to his happiness, Wes opened it a few moments later.

"Woah, what's up with you?"

"I need to talk to you, but you can't tell anyone or Nick will kill me, Jeff will kill Nick and…Jeff will probably kill me too…"

"Calm down, I won't tell anyone," Wes promised. "But you should probably come inside because you clearly don't want anyone to hear."

"Okay..." Kurt agreed, entering Wes' dorm.

"So what's up?"

"Nick…Nick…" _Why couldn't he get the words out? _"Nick kissed me."

"Wait, what!?"

"Wes!"

"Wait…he _kissed _you?"

"No, he threw a football at my head, why else would I say he kissed me!?"

"Okay, calm down, I'm sorry."

"It makes sense now," Kurt said, feeling incredibly stupid for not realising. "When we woke up this morning there was like hardly any part of us not touching and I wondered why he found it so awkward but he just kissed me and told me he likes me and why is it only just making sense!?"

"Can you just calm down and think for one second, please?" Wes pleaded.

"How am I supposed to calm down, Wes!?" Kurt exclaimed. "My best friend kissed me. Kissed. He didn't hug me or pat me on the back, he _kissed _me, while he already has a boyfriend and now I have to choose between breaking said boyfriends trust by not telling him that Nick kissed me or I have to betray Nick and tell Jeff but I don't want to do either of those things because they're two of my closest and best friends and I love them both so I don't want to hurt either of them but I don't know what to do and ARGH!"

"Okay, so I understood about thirty percent of that but what I actually got from it is that you don't want to hurt either Nick or Jeff so you should probably talk to Nick about it because for all you know he might want to break up with Jeff or tell him about the kiss."

"But…I don't want to talk to Nick."

"Why not?" Wes asked confusedly.

"Because we have a really strong tendency to make each other feel guilty and oh my god, I seriously can't believe I didn't realise that he likes me before."

"You really need to talk to Nick about this or things are going to be really awkward for a long time and it's even worse because you're roommates."

Kurt sighed heavily, "Thank you for being straight."

"After all of this drama I'm glad I'm straight, being gay seems like a lot of work." Wes laughed.

"You don't even know the half of it."

Kurt decided to say in Wes' dorm for another ten minutes or so before reluctantly making his way back to his dorm and slipping inside to see Nick lying across Kurt's bed with his face buried in one of his pillows.

"Hey," Kurt said softly, capturing Nick's attention.

"Hi," Nick mumbled, not removing his head from the pillow.

"Can we talk now?"

Nick slowly lifted his head and nodded, sitting up as Kurt sat opposite him.

"I'm sorry," Nick began. "I shouldn't have kissed you, I just… I do really like you and I was scared to tell you so I…I just kissed you."

"You're right," Kurt replied. "You shouldn't have kissed me, especially as you have a boyfriend. I know what it feels like to see somebody else kiss my boyfriend and although Jeff didn't physically see us, I know it's gonna really hurt him if he finds out."

"I know…I'm just so confused. When I realised that I liked you I could barely admit it to myself because I felt so bad for feeling that way. I don't even understand _why _I feel this way. I love Jeff, I really do, and it it's not like we've been arguing or anything, things are perfect."

"Except for the fact that you like another boy without him knowing and you kissed said boy not even an hour ago."

"Yeah, except for that. And I've probably just screwed everything up because now I'm hiding an even bigger secret from my boyfriend than I already was and things are probably going to be so awkward between us now."

"It's only awkward because," Kurt sighed before continuing. "I want to tell Jeff because I don't want to lie to him but I don't want to tell him because I don't want to hurt him and I feel like if I do then I'm betraying you." Kurt rambled, eliciting laughter from Nick. "What?"

"Nothing, I just find it sort of amusing that you don't actually care that I kissed you, you just care that you don't know how to deal with it without hurting anyone _else_."

"That is kind of weird…I care about it a lot less than I'd expect to…"

"Kurt I…I really like you, I wasn't lying when I said that. And although I shouldn't have kissed you, I don't regret it."

"Nick, you're with Jeff."

"But what if I wasn't?"

"Please don't do this…"

"What if I wasn't with Jeff?" Nick asked again. "What would be happening right now?"

"I honestly don't know. I've never even considered whether or not I like you. Ever since I broke up with Blaine I haven't considered liking _anyone_."

"That doesn't mean that you _don't _like me." Nick said with a small smile.

"It doesn't mean that I do, either." Kurt pointed out.

"You like me."

"Stop putting words into my mouth!" Kurt laughed.

"I'm not putting words into your mouth, I'm taking them out because you're too scared to say them."

"Nick!" Kurt exclaimed with a little giggle.

"Admit it," Nick whispered and _oh,_ he was suddenly getting extremely close to Kurt's face.

"No," Kurt whispered back.

"Admit it," Nick whispered again, his lips inches away from Kurt's.

"No," Kurt whispered decisively.

It shouldn't have taken him by surprise considering how close his face was to Nick's, but Kurt gasped as Nick's lips were suddenly capturing his own in a kiss.

Kurt froze for a second, leaving Nick to wonder if he'd overstepped, until he took a deep breath and began to kiss his friend back.

"We're so screwed," Kurt mumbled against Nick's lips as he was lowered onto his back on the bed and kissed some more.

The two boys ended up making out for at least twenty minutes, completely losing track of everything as they became completely wrapped up in each other.

When they finally pulled apart, Nick looked down at the boy under him and smirked.

"Still not gonna admit that you like me?"

"This isn't funny," Kurt groaned. "Jeff is gonna hate us."

"I'm gonna talk to him tomorrow when he gets back."

"You can't just break up with him, Nick."

"Okay firstly, we just spent half an hour making out so I know you don't actually feel that way even though you refuse to admit that you like me and secondly, I can't lie to him. I mean, one kiss would've been hard to keep from him but a whole make out session? You know me; you know that I'd break and that'd hurt him even more."

"I feel so guilty," Kurt whined. "When you kissed me earlier I could just blame it all on you but that…you know as well as I do that we were both responsible for that."

"I still don't regret it." Nick admitted softly, caressing Kurt's cheek gently with his thumb.

"Me neither," Kurt whispered, covering Nick's hand with his own. "But that's what makes me feel the worst."

"I know," Nick sighed, pressing a kiss to Kurt's forehead before he was promptly pushed backwards as the chestnut haired teen sat up and got off of the bed, making his way to the door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go stay with Wes, just for tonight. I don't trust myself in the same room as you and I don't want to make this any worse than it already is."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes," Kurt said, walking back over to Nick and taking a hold of his hands. "It's only one night."

"Fine," Nick pouted, making Kurt giggle.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Kurt said, ducking down to place on last kiss on Nick's lips before leaving.

Nick didn't sleep at all that night, he just tossed and turned, dreading talking to Jeff the next day. He knew it was going to crush him, they'd been dating for almost two years. But Nick knew that he had to tell him, even though he didn't want to hurt his feelings; he'd cheated on him and he wouldn't be able to hide it from Jeff even if he wanted to.

The next day, Nick had to awkwardly avoid Jeff's excessive hugs and kisses until he finally convinced him to go to the choir room and talk to him.

"You're kind of scaring me. I feel like you're about to tell me that someone died or something."

Nobody died." Nick replied with less humour than he intended.

"Hey," Jeff frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I…" Nick swallowed hard. "I…I – Jeff," He cried, his eyes welling up.

"Hey, you can tell me."

Nick shook his head and looked up at the ceiling, unable to maintain eye contact any longer.

"I kissed Kurt."


	3. November

"What's going on with them?" Jeff whispered to Thad as they watched Kurt and Nick interact with each other in a more than friendly but not quite loving way.

Since Nick admitted to Jeff that he'd kissed Kurt, they'd broken up – of course – but the three of them slowly made their way back to being friends. Jeff had gotten over the initial hurt of his boyfriend kissing somebody else and once he did that, he realised how blatantly obvious it was that they had feelings for each other. They were rarely ever in each other's presence without one of them giggling or smiling and they were a lot closer than they used to be, yet for some reason they weren't dating.

Jeff wouldn't care if they were, in fact he kind of wanted them to date just because it seemed like they were trying so hard _not_ to kiss each other every time they were in the same room. They were actually kind of…cute together, even Jeff had to admit that.

"They've been like this for a while now, it's kind of weird…" Thad replied in a hushed tone.

"Why won't they just date already!?" Jeff whisper-shouted.

"You know exactly why…"

It was Wes' birthday and the four boys were organising a party in the choir room. Jeff and Thad were hanging up decorations while Kurt and Nick sorted out snacks, or well…threw M&M's at each other's faces. Their laughter was echoing through the room as they continued to mess around with each other.

"This is frustrating me, I'll be back in a minute," Jeff said to Thad before dropping his end of the decoration Thad was trying to hang and making his way over to the other two boys. "Nick, I need to talk to you."

"Okay…" Nick said confusedly, his eyebrows scrunching up as he followed Jeff out of the room.

"Why the hell aren't you and Kurt dating yet!?"

"Wow, calm down."

"Sorry," Jeff said. "Why the hell aren't you and Kurt dating yet?" He asked again in a calmer tone.

Nick sighed. "Because he refuses to go on a date with me."

"Why?" Jeff groaned. "He obviously likes you."

"Can I just ask…why is this bothering you so much? Shouldn't you want us to _not_ be together?"

"I don't know, all I know is you guys are crazy about each other and you're not together and it's annoying me."

"I think he keeps saying no to me because of you. He's the most selfless person ever and he doesn't want to hurt you so he's sacrificing his own happiness."

"But I'm okay now," Jeff pointed out. "Yes, I was hurt at first but I got over it."

"Tell him that, not me."

"Okay," Jeff agreed, making his way back into the choir room.

"No, wait – I wasn't serious!" Nick shouted, following Jeff into the room.

"You," Jeff said, pointing at Kurt and making a come hither motion with his finger until Kurt realised what he was saying and followed him out of the room. "Why won't you go out with Nick?"

"What –"

"Answer the question."

"Because…because he basically cheated on you like a month ago and I'm not gonna rub that in your face."

"But it doesn't upset me anymore!" Jeff cried frustratedly. "Believe it or not, I actually want you guys to get together. If anything it'll help me move on because I just want you guys to be happy now that I'm over the hurt from what Nick did."

"But –"

"No buts. You like him, he likes you and you have absolutely no reason to say no to him anymore. Now go back inside and help your soon to be boyfriend put snacks into bowls please."

Once Kurt was back inside, he confusedly made his way back to Nick, looking over his shoulder at Jeff who was staring at him pointedly.

"Did he just –"

"Yup," Kurt said, cutting Nick off. "No offence, but your ex-boyfriend is really weird."

"Tell me something I don't know." Nick laughed.

When Nick and Kurt got back to their dorm later that day, Nick decided that he was going to ask Kurt out, once again, and he was praying that he would actually say yes this time.

"Can I talk to you?" Nick asked the chestnut haired teen nervously. It was amusing how Nick had already asked him out several times but he was still nervous as hell each and every time.

"Sure," Kurt smiled, making his way from his desk to sit next to Nick on the edge of his bed.

"So I was wondering if…maybe…you wanted to be my date to Wes' party?"

"Nick…Jeff…"

"Said that he wants us to be together and you're still saying no to me."

"But he –"

"Forget about Jeff for a minute. Do you want to go out with me?"

"…Yes." Kurt admitted.

"Then why do you keep saying no to me?" Nick asked. "Even now that Jeff has said that he wants us to date."

Kurt sighed, honestly not knowing why he was saying no anymore. He did want to date Nick, that much was obvious, but he kept holding himself back from being with him and he didn't really know why.

"Ask me again."

"…Will you be my date to Wes' party?"

"No."

"Kurt!" Nick exclaimed, a little frustrated.

"I'm kidding!" Kurt laughed. "Yes, I'll be your date."

"Yes!" Nick all but shouted, fist pumping as Kurt burst into laughter. "Hey, I've been asking you out for almost a month now, I'm allowed to be excited."

"You're adorable." Kurt laughed.

"Seeing as I've had _some _luck so far," Nick teased. "I have another question."

"Okay…"

Nick was even more nervous to ask this question, but he was going to explode if he didn't ask. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

"I suppose so." Kurt sighed dramatically.

"You're so annoying!" Nick laughed.

"Why are you asking me out then?" Kurt asked, rendering Nick unable to reply. "Exactly." He laughed, poking his tongue out at Nick.

"I would come up with a reply for that but I honestly don't care because you _finally _said yes to me." Nick grinned, unable to keep the smile from his face.

The hour of the party finally arrived and Nick was giddy at the fact that he was going on a date with Kurt… his _boyfriend._

Kurt honestly did find Nick's excitement adorable. He was sort of excited too, though, as Nick _had _been asking him out for a month and he had finally given in and said yes.

The two boys walked hand in hand to the party and found their friends – The Warblers – almost immediately. Nick all but ran towards them, pulling Kurt behind him as the chestnut haired teen laughed.

"I have to introduce you guys to someone!"

"Uh, we already know Kurt…" Thad replied awkwardly.

"Nope," Nick grinned. "I want to introduce you to…my boyfriend!"

"Finally!" Jeff exclaimed.

Kurt continued to laugh and hid his face in Nick's shoulder, holding onto his _boyfriends _hand with both of his own hands.

"Where's Wes anyway?" Nick asked a few moments later, realising he was missing from his own party.

"He's…I have no idea," Jeff laughed. "We lost him to a bunch of people saying happy birthday to him so yeah…he'll appear at some point."

"Okay, well excuse me while I drag my boyfriend away against his will to dance with me." Nick grinned, keeping his word and taking Kurt to another part of the room before wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist.

Kurt laughed, wrapping his own arms around Nick's neck and ultimately pulling him impossibly closer.

"You're absolutely ridiculous, you know." Kurt said as the two of them swayed slightly from side to side.

Nick laughed. "I'm just really, really happy right now."

"Me too," Kurt giggled, hooking his chin over Nick's shoulder and smiling when he made eye contact with Jeff. He mouthed 'thank you' to his friend, who just smiled back at him and nodded.

As the night grew on, Nick excitedly announced to more people that Kurt was his boyfriend and did ridiculous dance moves with Kurt. Wes came and went, saying he was glad that the two of them had finally stopped being idiots who thought they could be 'just friends' and kissing both of them on the cheek, leaving them both to look at each other confusedly.

"Everyone has lost their minds today," Kurt laughed, sitting down next to Nick and resting his head against his shoulder.

"Tell me about it," Nick agreed, taking a hold of Kurt's hand. "You okay?"

"Mhm," Kurt hummed, moving so that his chin was resting on Nick's shoulder and pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's cheek before moving back to his previous position.

They were joined shortly by the rest of the Warblers and they spent the remainder of the night talking and laughing; none of them being phased by Nick and Kurt cuddling up to each other, surprisingly enough.

When they eventually went back to their dorm the two boys took turns changing into their pyjamas and brushing their teeth, as per usual, although instead of getting straight into their respective beds, they met in the middle in a hug; Nick wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist while Kurt wrapped his arms around Nick's neck tightly.

The two boys pulled back slightly and looked at each other for a second before leaning in at the same time to capture each other's lips in a kiss. Kurt tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss, not wanting that moment to end.

"That should have been our first kiss," Nick whispered as they pulled apart and rested their foreheads against each other's.

"It was our first kiss as boyfriends," Kurt smiled, pressing another tiny kiss to Nick's lips before pulling away completely and making his way into his bed, Nick doing the same.

As Kurt pulled the covers up and around him, he closed his eyes and tried desperately to sleep but couldn't seem to drift into the slumber he awaited. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Nick's bed, contemplating whether or not his boyfriend of one day would object to holding him all night. Deciding it was his best option if he wanted to sleep, Kurt slowly climbed out of bed and made his way over to Nick's, crawling under the covers and cuddling up to him instantly.

Nick blinked his eyes open and looked down at the boy that was in his bed all of a sudden. "Kurt?"

"I can't sleep," Kurt whispered.

"Okay," Nick replied with a little yawn, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and pressing a kiss into the top of his head.

Thanksgiving was approaching a few days later and Kurt was ecstatic at the prospect of seeing all of his best friends again. It had become a tradition, sort of, for Quinn, Rachel and Blaine and their families to go to his house for dinner every thanksgiving which made Kurt even more excited about it than he usually would. The only thing that made Kurt less excited was the fact that Nick wouldn't agree to having dinner with Kurt as he claimed he 'didn't want to intrude.'

"Please come?" Kurt begged as he sat on his desk chair that was in his bedroom at home, opposite Nick who sat on the edge of his boyfriend's bed.

"Kurt," Nick whined. "You already have so many people coming to your house."

"My dad likes big thanksgivings," Kurt argued. "We used to have them all the time with our family but after my mum died they just stopped and it was me and my dad. Plus we already have nine people coming, an additional three isn't going to hurt."

"That's twelve people, Kurt," Nick laughed, "Plus you and your dad is fourteen."

"Please," Kurt asked again, looking genuinely sad. "I really want you to be there."

"Okay," Nick sighed. "I'll talk to my parents tonight."

"Yay!" Kurt exclaimed with a huge smile, enveloping his boyfriend in a hug before pulling back almost immediately. "Wait. You're not just doing this for me right? Because you can say no if you really don't want to come and I won't mind. I mean I'll be upset but I'll get over it and –"

"Shut up," Nick laughed. "I _do _want to come."

"Okay," Kurt said with an adorable smile.

When the day of thanksgiving finally arrived, Kurt was a huge ball of energy. Nick spent the whole day at Kurt's house, helping him and Burt prepare everything before everyone else started to arrive. Blaine and Rachel were the first to arrive as their flight was quite early and they had nothing better to do with their time. Cooper and Jenna arrived next, Quinn and her parents following a while later. Rachel's dads were next and Nick's parents arrived shortly after them.

The first thing Blaine noticed was how…comfortable Kurt and Nick were with each other and he suddenly felt extremely out of place.

"Are they dating?" Blaine asked Burt quietly as he watched the two boys messing around with each other as they set the table.

"Yeah…I thought Kurt would've told you that." Burt replied.

"No…I didn't even know that Nick and Jeff broke up."

"It's only been for a few weeks, though."

"He probably just…forgot to tell me, I guess." Blaine shrugged, more than ready to drop the subject.

Burt laughed softly as he left the kitchen, only to be replaced by Cooper.

"Blaine," Cooper said as he appeared next to his little brother. "I can practically smell the jealousy radiating from you right now."

"Shut up Cooper," Blaine groaned, tearing his eyes away from Nick and Kurt finally.

"I'm just saying, if you're gonna stare at them with jealousy in your eyes at least try and be subtle about it."

"I'm not jealous!" Blaine exclaimed as quiet as possible. "I'm…I'm not."

"I'm sure," Cooper laughed. "Why would you possibly be jealous of seeing the boy you love happy with someone else?"

"You're incredibly annoying."

"Why thank you." Cooper smiled.

"I just don't understand why he didn't tell me," Blaine said. "What did he think I was going to say?"

"I thought you weren't jealous?"

"I'm not!" Blaine shouted, causing everyone in the room to stare at him momentarily.

"I'm gonna go find mum," Cooper replied.

When everyone finally sat down to eat, Blaine awkwardly sat in between Cooper and Jenna while he tried not to make eye contact with either Nick or Kurt who were, coincidentally, sitting opposite him and being even cuter than Kurt and Blaine were.

The night began to wear on and everyone moved into the living room to watch a movie, as per usual. Kurt curled into Nick's side on one of the sofas while the other teen wrapped his arms around him and pressed a kiss into the top of his head.

Blaine sat on the other sofa next to Rachel and tried not to look at the two sixteen year olds as he knew that it would make him more jealous than he already was, but failed miserably. He just thanked his lucky stars that they weren't like he used to be with Kurt, as they would probably be making out by now and Blaine didn't know if he could deal with watching that.

About halfway into the movie, Blaine got up and left the room. What he didn't notice was Kurt following his path with his eyes.

"I'll be back in a minute," Kurt whispered to Nick, pressing a kiss to his cheek before following Blaine out of the room. "You okay?" He asked when he found the nineteen year old in the kitchen.

"Hmm?" Blaine hummed, spinning around to see Kurt. "Yeah, I just needed some water."

"You sure? You've been acting kinda weird all day."

"Yeah I just…" Blaine sighed. "Kurt…why didn't you tell me about you and Nick?"

"Oh…" Kurt said quietly. "I didn't tell anyone…if that helps. I mean, my dad only found out a few days ago and everyone else, except for Nick's parents, found out today."

"Yeah but…you tell me everything."

"I didn't do it deliberately," Kurt said truthfully. "I just…it's not like everything else, Blaine."

"I still kind of just thought that you'd be able to tell me something like this." Blaine shrugged, making to leave the kitchen.

"Blaine," Kurt said, grabbing the nineteen year olds wrist to stop him from leaving. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's okay," Blaine sighed. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Maybe, but I've obviously upset you."

Blaine sighed again. Kurt really wasn't helping with the whole 'jealous ex-boyfriend' thing. He was still being ridiculously sweet and caring and _ugh _Blaine was never going to get over him.

"I'm fine," Blaine replied, forcing a smile. "I promise."

Kurt finally dropped it and returned to the living room with Blaine, making his way back to his boyfriend and cuddling back into his side, a lot less happy than he was before talking to Blaine. Nick noticed this, of course, but decided that he would wait to talk to Kurt about it. So he wrapped his arms back around the chestnut haired teen and hugged him close.

Later that evening, when everyone had gone home, Kurt went up to his bedroom and all but collapsed on his bed, feeling completely drained and exhausted. Nick followed him up, slowly entering his boyfriend's bedroom and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"You okay?" Nick asked, reaching down to brush Kurt's hair away from his forehead while the chestnut haired teen looked up at him.

"Yeah," Kurt smiled. "I'm just really tired."

"What happened with Blaine earlier? You seemed kinda bummed when you came back after talking to him."

Kurt sighed. "He was upset that I didn't tell him we were dating, but when I apologised he acted like it didn't matter even though it clearly did."

"You didn't tell anybody though."

"I know, and I told him that too," Kurt replied, smiling up at Nick as he continued to card his fingers through Kurt's hair. "I'm really glad you're staying here tonight."

"Me too," Nick smiled, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to Kurt's lips before moving his position to lie with Kurt's head resting against his chest, their hands intertwined between them.

"Can I ask you something?" Kurt asked after a few moments of silence.

"Sure,"

"I'm not sure where this came from, I just…Does it bother you that I didn't tell anyone we were dating? I mean, I know it was only for a few weeks but I didn't tell anyone outside of Dalton whereas you did."

"No," Nick replied without hesitation. "Whether you didn't tell anybody because you weren't ready or you just didn't want to tell anybody, it doesn't matter. I know that if you were ashamed to be with me then you _wouldn't _be with me so it honestly doesn't matter one bit to me that everyone only just found out."

Kurt grinned, resting his chin on Nick's chest and looking up at his boyfriend through his eyelashes.

"I'm glad that you don't think I'm ashamed to be with you, because there is absolutely no way that could happen."

"I know the feeling," Nick smiled.


	4. December

"Isn't it going to be weird spending Christmas with Jeff's family after everything that happened?" Kurt asked Nick as he sat opposite him on his bed, a plate of pizza between them. The boys were already on Christmas break, and Nick had asked Kurt to stay at his house the day before he went away with his family.

"Not really," Nick said, swallowing his mouthful of food. "I mean, we're still friends, and our families are really close. We do this every Christmas so it's kind of just...routine, I guess."

"Well, consider me jealous." Kurt smiled, picking up a slice of pizza and taking a bite from it.

"Don't be," Nick laughed. "It's you that I'm going to be thinking about."

"Sap," Kurt giggled. "It's kind of weird how we're both spending Christmas with our exes though…" He wondered aloud, continuing to eat his food.

"Well, when you put it like that it just sounds creepy." Nick said, laughing.

Nick and Kurt cuddled up in bed with a movie not too long later, eventually falling asleep in each others arms. Kurt managed to get about two hours of sleep before he woke up, sweating from having a nightmare. He didn't scream this time, so Nick was still sound asleep, and he didn't want to bother his boyfriend by waking him up. He carefully climbed out of bed and tip-toed downstairs, feeling uncomfortable just wondering around Nick's house as he'd never been there before.

Sitting on the sofa, Kurt pulled his phone out and searched through his contacts until he found Blaine's name. He hit the call button and grasped the phone to his ear, waiting for the nineteen year old to pick up.

"'Lo?" Blaine mumbled, having clearly been asleep moments before.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said. "I didn't mean to wake you up, I -"

"Kurt?" Blaine said, voice hoarse. There was shuffling on the other end of the line before Blaine spoke up again. "What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare," Kurt admitted quietly, pulling his knees up to his chest. "It wasn't as intense as they have been at times but I just…"

"It's okay," Blaine replied. "Where are you?"

"I'm at Nick's house," Kurt said, burying his face between his knees and mumbling into the phone, "I think that's why I had the nightmare. I've never been to Nick's house before, let alone stayed the night and it's...foreign to me."

Blaine's heart fluttered at the fact that Kurt was staying at Nick's house but decided to talk to him about what was wrong instead of his own boyfriend. "Was it the same dream as usual?"

"Yeah. I woke up before...the end, but I still just," Kurt swallowed, lifting his head and wiping at his eyes as they suddenly teared up. "I hate it." He said, beginning to cry a little.

"Hey," Blaine said sadly, wishing he could hug Kurt through the phone. "It's okay ba - it's not real, Kurt. You're okay." He comforted, mentally slapping himself for almost letting the word 'baby' slip out.

"I don't know what to do," Kurt sobbed, keeping his face tucked between his knees so that he didn't make too much noise. "I can't go back to bed, I know I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep but I...help me." He cried, his voice breaking a little.

"Go back to bed," Blaine said softly. "Even if you can't sleep, you'll be with Nick and he makes you feel safe, right?"

"I guess." Kurt said. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of the hoodie he was wearing and breathed in the scent, only then realising that it was Blaine's hoodie he was wearing. Kurt probably should have felt more guilty than he did about the scent of the hoodie calming him down in that moment, but he didn't care. He felt sick and tired, and would probably do anything to calm down.

"Call me in the morning and let me know how you feel, okay?"

"But you're flying in tomorrow…"

"Yeah, but I'm not going to be here until late afternoon and you know I'll drive myself crazy wondering if you're okay."

"Okay…" Kurt said. "And Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." Kurt replied gratefully, a little sniffle escaping him.

"You're welcome." Blaine said, smiling through the phone. He hung up the phone before making his way back to bed - Kurt being the last thing on his mind as he drifted to sleep.

"Kurt?" Nick's sleepy voice came from the doorway of the living room.

"Hi." Kurt said, turning to face his boyfriend despite his cheeks still being wet and his eyes still being red rimmed.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked, making his way over to the chestnut haired teen.

"I had a nightmare."

"And you had to call Blaine about that?" Nick asked, practically seething with jealousy. "You couldn't just talk to me?"

"I didn't wanna wake you up." Kurt said, wiping his eyes.

"But it was okay to wake Blaine up?"

"Nick -"

"It's always going to be him, isn't it?" Nick said in an accusatory tone. "It's always going to be him that you run to when you need to talk to someone, or you need comforting. No matter how long we're together or how crazy I am about you, you're never going to feel the same way about me as you do about him."

"That's not fair," Kurt replied, tears leaving his eyes once again. "He was the first person I ever fell in love with, the first person that ever fell in love with me. I'm more comfortable with him than I am with anybody, you know that."

"That isn't the point, Kurt. The point is that you should be comfortable with me and you should be able to talk to me when you're upset."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Kurt cried. "I can't help it if he makes me feel safe and comfortable, he just does."

"You can't just cry and apologise, Kurt," Nick said, causing more tears to leave Kurt's eyes. "It doesn't matter how sorry you are, it's never going to change."

"Why are you being so mean to me?" Kurt asked, wiping his eyes frantically.

Nick just shook his head, getting off the sofa, making his way upstairs and leaving a distraught Kurt on the sofa. Kurt buried his face in his arms and cried harder, sobs and hiccups escaping his body as a never ending stream of tears left his eyes.

He was in the same position when the sun began to rise and only then did he move, lying down on the sofa and staring blankly at the wall. His eyes were red from crying and not sleeping and his throat felt like it had been scratched by a kitten with extremely sharp claws.

He completely ignored Nick when he came downstairs and asked Kurt if he wanted any breakfast. Eating wasn't something Kurt felt like doing, and he didn't particularly feel like talking to Nick either. The sixteen year old continued to stare into space, even when Nick finished his breakfast and made his way into the living room. The most he moved was when Nick wanted to sit down, and all he did then was pull his knees up to his chest where he was lying across the sofa.

"Kurt," Nick said a few hours later, shaking the boy gently as if he was asleep. "Your dad is here."

Kurt sat up, standing up and following Nick out of the living room. He took his bag from Nick and the two boys were left facing each other awkwardly, neither of them knowing what to do. Nick moved forward slowly, wrapping his arms around Kurt's neck. The chestnut haired teen buried his face in Nick's shoulder, wrapping his arms around his waist. They pulled apart quickly, Nick opening the door for Kurt and watching him walk to his dads car - still dressed in pyjama bottoms and Blaine's hoodie, his backpack clutched in his hand.

"What happened to you?" Burt asked when Kurt entered the car, noticing his messy hair and red eyes.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Kurt mumbled, his voice croaky as he leaned against the car window. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. 3:30. Blaine's flight hadn't arrived yet, and no matter how much of a bad person it made him, Kurt needed him. "Can we pick Blaine up from the airport?"

Blaine almost missed Kurt when he made his way through the airport. He wasn't expecting him and, well...he didn't exactly look himself. He was enveloped in a hug before he got to ask what was going on - Kurt burying his face in the jacket he was wearing. Blaine looked up at Burt, who shrugged in reply to the look he received, before gently wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist.

"I need you." Kurt mumbled, tightening his grip on the nineteen year old.

Kurt cuddled up to Blaine the entire way back to his house, refusing to leave his side even when they made their way inside. Burt announced that he had to go to work and that the boys could help themselves to anything they wanted. Blaine made his way into the kitchen and sat down at the table, only to get a lapful of sad teenage boy.

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, wrapping his arms around Kurt's body and rubbing his back soothingly.

"Nick and I had a fight," Kurt croaked out, hiding his face in Blaine's neck. "After I called you, he came into the living room and he got mad at me for talking to you instead of him...he was horrible to me."

"Why did he get mad at you?"

"He said that I always run to you when I'm upset and I should be comfortable enough with him to talk to him."

"Are you not comfortable with him?" Blaine asked.

"I am. I can't help it if I always talk to you, it just feels natural. I know that he's right, I do run to you when I'm upset but he...he was so mean about it. He made it seem like I'm some kind of stray puppy that follows you around everywhere, and he practically called me a cry baby."

"What? Why?" Blaine said incredulously.

"He didn't say those exact words, but he said that I can't just cry and apologise, which is pretty much the same thing...It's not even the fight that I'm upset about, it's the fact that he really hurt my feelings. He knew that I had just had a nightmare, too, and it didn't stop him."

"You're not a cry baby, Kurt," Blaine said. "I don't care if he's your boyfriend, don't listen to him, okay?"

Kurt nodded, burying his face in Blaine's shoulder. "I feel like crap. I haven't slept since I called you."

"I can tell. Your voice sounds horrible and I know it's not just from crying."

"I really don't want to sleep," Kurt admitted. "I don't particularly want to stay awake either but I just…"

"I get it." Blaine smiled, just as there was a knock on the door. Kurt climbed off of his lap and took ahold of his hand, not wanting to leave Blaine even to walk to the door, but only once he opened the door did he realise what a bad idea that was.

"Of course," Nick laughed, shaking his head. "Of course you went running back to him."

"What do you want?" Kurt asked tiredly.

"I came to apologise but like always, he's with you."

"Wow, jealous much?" Blaine said before he could stop himself.

"He is here because you were a jerk to me last night and I had nobody else to talk to." Kurt replied, ignoring Blaine's remark.

"Oh, come on, stop playing the damsel in distress, Kurt. There are plenty of people you could've turned to - Jeff, Quinn, Wes, anybody."

"Don't talk to him like that," Blaine cut in. "I don't care if you have a problem with me but don't you dare take it out on him. He's your boyfriend, not your slave. He's allowed to be friends with whoever he wants to be and he's allowed to talk to whoever he wants to - you don't control him."

"Don't act like you wouldn't jump at the chance to get him back."

"I'm not denying that I still love him and that I'd give anything to be with him, but when have I ever tried to come between the two of you?"

Kurt was stunned into silence. Usually he'd moan at Blaine for not letting him fight his own battles, but he actually kind of liked that Blaine was sticking up for him. Well, it was that and the fact that he'd just said that he was in love with him still.

"That doesn't mean you don't want to."

"I don't," Blaine replied earnestly. "I don't want to come between you two because I love him and I want him to be happy. No matter how much I miss him, I would never deliberately try and split him up from someone who made him happy. That's what true love is, Nick. Trying to control your boyfriend, stopping him from seeing his friends and making him feel like crap about himself isn't true love - see the difference between our friendship and your relationship?"

"And breaking his heart multiple times is true love, I suppose?"

"Yes, I made mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, but I have never - not once - made him feel like rubbish about himself. I have never tried to stop him from being friends with somebody just because I was jealous of them."

"Guys, stop." Kurt said weakly, only to be ignored by the two boys.

"I'm not jealous of you."

"You fought with him because he's more comfortable with me than he is with you, that sounds like jealousy to me."

"Please stop fighting." Kurt pleaded, again being ignored.

"I fought with him because I'm sick of him acting like the entire world revolves around you, it's annoying. All it is with him is Blaine this, Blaine that, Blaine's flying in today, I talked to Blaine last night, Blaine blah blah blah blah -" SLAP.

"Blaine!" Kurt all but screamed.

Nick brought a hand up to his cheek, shocked that Blaine had actually hit him. Blaine, however, was still filled with rage as he grabbed the collar of Nick's shirt and pulled him closer, ignoring Kurt's shouts of "get off him!"

"Say one more nasty thing about him and I swear to god -"

"What is going on here!?" Burt's voice boomed from behind Nick.

Blaine released the sixteen year old's shirt and stepped backwards as if surrendering. Nick turned around and made his way back to his car as Burt shoved Blaine inside the house, following behind him.

"What has gotten into you?" Burt asked, receiving no answer from Blaine. "Kurt?" He said, facing his son.

"I...he was sticking up for me, I tried to stop them from arguing but they wouldn't listen to me and then Blaine just...hit him."

"I didn't mean to," Blaine said, looking up at Burt with guilt in his eyes. "He was just being such a jerk and saying nasty things about Kurt and I...I lost my temper. I've never hit anybody in my life, I have no idea where that came from."

Burt sighed, understanding what happened. "You were angry."

"Yeah but I hit him," Blaine replied. "I hit a sixteen year old."

"Look...I'm not exactly happy that this happened, but it did, and there's nothing that can be done about it now, okay?" Burt said, going into the living room.

Blaine turned to face Kurt, looking extremely guilty. "I -"

"You idiot," Kurt said, and Blaine was about to apologise when he was enveloped in a hug. "You're such an idiot."

"I'm confused…I thought you were mad at me."

Kurt pulled back, smiling at the nineteen year old with tears in his eyes. "How could I possibly be mad at somebody who loves me that much?"

Blaine smiled slightly, still kind of confused about the whole situation.

"I'm sorry, still," He said. "I shouldn't have hit him."

Kurt shrugged with a teasing smile. "He deserved it."

Blaine shook his head with laughter, leading Kurt into the living room and sitting next to him on the sofa, unable to stop himself from glancing at him every now and then.


End file.
